Newsies
by gleeme33
Summary: Based on the movie and musical. In 1899, a band of unlikely newsgirls, led by Rachel Berry, come together to put a stop to their unfair treatment as child laborers. Along the way, Rachel falls for a well-off reporter, Finn Hudson.


**This is a new summer story for me, based on **_**Newsies**_**, the movie and the musical. Lyrics used in the story will be from the musical, unless I say otherwise, and most of the time it'll only be snipets of songs, not all of the lyrics in order. Also, this is a female version of **_**Newsies**_** – the newsboys are now news**_**girls**_**. Remember to review. Thanks and enjoy.**

_New York, New York – 1899 _

Some twenty stories below her, the loud _honk_ of a large truck made Rachel Berry stir and – unfortunately – awaken from her sleep. _Shit_, she cursed to herself – she had only finally fallen asleep two hours ago, and by the look of traffic down below, it would only be another, say, half-hour until the bell rang. Well, there goes all hope of a good night's sleep.

"Hey, Rachel?" The voice came from a blinking Quinn Fabray, the blonde girl that slept on the rooftop with Rachel. "When I walk, does it look like I'm fakin' it?" Quinn was in a horrible accident not too long ago, and since then had lost the use of her left leg – the right leg had healed, but the left was crushed so badly that now poor Quinn could not support herself on it, and had to walk with a crutch.

"Nah," said Rachel. "It don't look that way at all! Why's ya' askin', Quinnie?"

"It's just…" Quinn hesitated. "There's a ton 'a fake's out there, ya' know, but I ain't fakenin' it…"

"We know Quinnie, we know."

Rachel walked over to the railing at the edge of the rooftop, and looked down on the dawning New York streets – the streets she'd grown up on. She'd seen so much, lived through so much, even at seventeen.

"Them streets down there," she murmured. "They sucked the life outta my old men, well they ain't doin' that to me!"

"But…everybody wants to come to New York!" Quinn stammered.

"You keep your small life in a big city," Rachel responded. "And give me a big life in a small town."

_They say folks is dyin' to get here._

_Me, I'm dyin' to get away,_

_To a a little town out west_

_That's spankin' new._

_And while I ain't never been there,_

_I can see it clear as day._

_If you want, I bet'cha you could see it, too._

_Close your eyes – _

_Come with me,_

_Where it's clean and green and pretty._

_And they went and made a city outta clay._

_Why, the minute that we get there,_

_Folks'll walk right up and say,_

_"Welcome home, son, welcome home to Santa Fe!"_

_Plantin' crops,_

_Splittin' rails,_

_Swappin' tales around the fire,_

_'Cept for Sunday when you lie around all day._

_Soon your friends are more like family,_

_And they's beggin' you to stay!_

_Ain't that neat?_

_Livin' sweet_

_In Santa Fe…_

"'Ey, nobody cares 'bout no paralyzed leg in Santa Fe. You just hop a palomino, and you'll ride in style!"

"Huh – picture _me_, ridin' in style…"

"I'd bet with a few months of clean, fresh air," Rachel told her friend. "You could toss that crutch for good!"

_Santa Fe,_

_You can bet._

_We won't let them bastards beat us._

_We won't beg no one to treat us fair and square._

_There's a life that's worth the livin',_

_And I'm gonna do my share…_

"Work the land," Rachel listed. "Chase the sun…" then she and Quinn both added:

"Swim the whole Rio Grand just for fun!"

"Watch me stand, watch me run…"

"Hey, hey!" Rachel put her hands on Quinn's shoulders, looked right at her and said: "Don't you know that we's a family? Would I let you down? No way!"

"But – "

"No, Quinnie! You'll get better! You _will_! You just gotta hold on for now, you can do it! Promise me you won't give up on yourself!"

"All right, Rach," the blonde drawled. "I promise."

"Now _that's _the Quinn I know!" And, looking back over the New York skyline, Rachel wondered if a life far away from here – a life without deadlines, a life without hardship – was even worth holding on for.

_Just hold on, kid,_

'_Till that train makes Santa Fe._

Santa Fe. That's where they'd go, Rachel told herself as she opened the hatch-door and helped Quinn down to the lowest level of the building all the newsgirls stayed in. _Santa Fe_. She could see it now, like a painting in her head. The beautiful purple summer, singing to them on the warm, western wind…

"Hey!" Yowled someone from a lower bunk. Rachel recognized the voice right of away as that of Santana Lopez. "That's my cigar!"

"You'll steal another!" The girl that swiped it from her recoiled.

"Hey, look – it's bath time at the zoo!" Santana added as she past a redheaded girl who was in front of the mirror. The girl had left the sink running cool water, and Santana splashed her with it.

"I thought that I'd surprise my mother…" the girl said in defense.

"Yeah, if you can find 'er!"

"Who asked you?"

"From Bottle Alley, to the harbor – it's easy pickin's guaranteed!" Tina, the little Asian girl who was responsible for checking the weather every morning, chirped the good news. "Try any banker, bum, or barber…"

"They almost all's know how to read!"

"It's a crooked game we're playin', one we'll never lose," Rachel started, pulling her hair back. "Long as suckers don't mind payin' just to get bad news!"

_Ain't it a fine life_

_Carrying the banner through it all_

_A mighty fine life, carrying the banner tough and tall_

_Every morning we goes where we wishes_

_Wes as free as fishes_

_Sure beats washing dishes_

_What a fine life, carrying the banner home-free all…_

"Hey, Quinnie," came another girl's voice. "I bet the limp sells fifty papers all by itself, huh?"

"I don't need the limp t'a sell papes!" Quinn snapped. "I got personality! It takes a smile that spreads like butter, the kind that turns a nice guy's head…"

"It takes an orphan with a stutter," Santana mewed. "Who's also blind, and mute, and dead!"

"But it's a fine life," Rachel mumbled, mostly to keep her own spirit up, as they approached the gate of Mr. Schuster, the curly-haired man with the bad attitude that sold them their papers from The World every morning. "Carryin' the banner through it all…"

"Now for a killer expedition!" Santana continued as they ran outside. "Give us a earthquake or a war!"

"How 'bout a crooked politician?" Mercedes prompted.

"Ya' nitwit – that ain't news no more!"

_Uptown to Grand Central Station,_

_Down to City Hall – _

_We's improve the circulation,_

_Walking 'til we fall!_

_But it's a fine life,_

_Carryin' the banner…_

"What's the headline?" Rachel asked to no one in particular. "Can you see Shoe's board?"

"Um…" one of the taller girls, Brittany, started. "It says…_Trolley Strike On It's Third Week_."

"_What_?" Almost every girl screamed.

"_Trolley Strike_!" Rachel yowled. "That won't sell me anything!"

_I don't like the headline,_

_I'll make up a headline, _

_And I'll say anything I have t'a!_

"At two-for-a-penny, if I take too many Shoe'll just make me eat 'em after!"

"Hey! What's the hold up?" Santana knocked on the gates. "Waitin' makes me antsy!"

"Yeah, 'cause you likes livin' chancy!"

The gates were just about to open, when the Karofsky brothers entered the scene.

"Why, hello gals!" Dave, one of the Karofsky twins, boomed. "Who's gonna pay me today?"

"We don't owe you anything, David!" Rachel sneered.

"Oh yeah?" Sebastian, the other twin, continued. "'Cause we's thought you were newsgirls for The World – and since our Uncle Joe owns The World…"

"We owe you about as much as your Uncle Joe does for givin' you those bad genes you both 've seemed to inherited!"

"Get 'er!" They both yowled, and Rachel raced off through the gates as they opened. The boys chased her until the eventually lost her in the crowd of newsies.

"Hey, uh, Shoe…" Santana was the first one at the booth. "Could ya' spot me fifty papes today?"

"Where's your quarter, Santana?"

"I…I kinda…spent it…"

"_Spent _it?" Schue echoed. "On _what_?"

"Uh…"

"Oh, don't try to gloss over it, Santana!" Another newsgirl boomed. "We all know you went with a hooker last night!"

"_Hey_!" Schue stopped the girl – Santana was one of the newsies that the curly-haired man had taken a liking too. His favorites included her, Rachel, Quinn, Tina, Mercedes, Brittany, and Sugar, just to name a few. "That's enough!"

"Well…can ya' blame me?" The Latina girl tried to defend herself. "Where else can I get a gal 'round here, huh?"

"Santana, I'll give ya' fifty today," Schue added. "But you owe me double tomorrow!" With a small 'thanks', Santana got to selling.

"Hiya, Shoe!" Rachel beamed when Mr. Schuster's paper booth was within reach. "Did ya' see the Karofsky twins anywhere's?"

"For the millionth time, Rachel, it's _Schue_! And no, you must'a lost 'em. How many papers 'ill you have?"

"Give me a hundred papes!" She declared, setting down her two quarters.

"All right, a hundred papers for the wise gal here," he said, handing her the freshly printed copies of The World. "Now get sellin'!"

_Here's the headline – _

_Newsies on a mission_

_Kill the competition_

_Sell the next edition!_

_What a fine life,_

_Carrying the banner_

_It's a fine life_

_Carrying the banner_

_It's a fine life_

_Carrying the banner_

_It's a fine life_

_Carrying the banner_

_It's a fine life_

_Carrying the banner_

_It's a_

_Go!_


End file.
